US panel on religious freedom seeks sanctions against RSS ahead of Mohan Bhagwat’s visit

A United States panel on religious freedom on Wednesday called for sanctions against members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and said its leaders should not be given high-level meetings or diplomatic courtesies, ahead of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s planned visit to the US.

US Commission on International Religious Freedom chair Asif Mahmood said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of the RSS. Mahmood described the RSS as an umbrella organisation “whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims”.

The RSS, a Hindutva organisation, is the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Commissioner Gene Mills said RSS leaders “should not be honored with high-level meetings or diplomatic courtesies” and instead asked Washington to consider sanctions against members found responsible for religious freedom violations.

The remarks came ahead of Bhagwat’s planned visit to New York on August 29 to participate in the Universal Oneness Celebrations organised by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue, PTI reported.

In March, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom had recommended in its annual report that the US government designate India as a “country of particular concern” over alleged systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

This was the seventh time that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom had made this recommendation.

The March report also recommended...

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